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　　 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍'𝐒 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐒 gently rocked from side to side as it huffed to its destination in London. The glossy black paint of the locomotive absorbed the spring's sunlight, radiating more heat than the sun itself. The wheels rolled over the train track, the painful screeching of steel on steel was dampened by the hissing of the air-pump and the whistling release of the purely white and poisoned black steam.

The train was stuffed to the brim with students from Hendon House and Saint Finbar's boarding schools, who were all eagerly waiting to be home for the Easter holidays. While some had the luck of making it into a private compartment, others had to be seated in a wagon with forty other passengers.

There was no air-conditioning and with the heat that late April had brought along, everyone tried to get a closer seat to the single-pane windows, which let in a cool breeze from outside the speeding train.

Every seat and booth was covered in red velvet, the closely woven fabric slightly moist from the sweat of the passengers. It tended to be itchy against bare skin this time of year, but no one on that train would know that. The boys wore their long, khaki trousers and the girls had to wear their knee-length skirts.

Florence was uncomfortably loosening her tie. It had blue and yellow stripes and came down to her bellybutton, but it was wrapped too tightly around her throat for her liking. She couldn't wait to be home and get rid of the horrible skirt she had to wear. The prospect of only a few more weeks until she would no longer have to go back to her boarding school was exciting her, making the insufferable clothing a little more bearable.

'You're going to ruin your tie that way,' Lucy snickered opposite her, a playful grin displaying on her face.

Florence let out a short-lived chuckle as she watched the Thames flicker by, the water of the river glistening with reflected sun rays. 'If only I cared,' she retorted and stood up. She reached out to her suitcase above her seat and without a second thought, she swung it over the railing and made it land next to her with a thud. 'We're almost at King's Cross Station.'

Her fair skin had a slight blush from the heat and it beautifully complimented her crystalline-blue eyes. Her plump lips formed into a smile at the thought of getting out of the train and she pushed her blonde hair back over her shoulders.

Lucy glanced upwards at her suitcase, but decided that it was too early to retrieve it and stayed seated. 'Peter said he would be waiting for us on the platform,' she said and folded her hands before laying them in her lap.

It became a little darker in the compartment when the train came to a halt at King's Cross Station. The sound of the smoke and exhaust gas being emitted through the stack and the whistle of escaping steam wasn't enough to mute the ear-wrenching screech that the train made when it slowed down to stop. The vast building of the station had two massive glass domes which allowed those who were waiting to look up into the sky.

The grey pavement filled with people streaming out of the train and within seconds, the before empty platform was bustling with life. People tried to find their way through the thick steam that was stuck underneath the glass dome whereas others hurried along to catch their next train.

Lucy climbed on top of the velvet booth and—with quite some trouble—she got her suitcase back onto the floor. She slid the door of their compartment open, but stumbled backwards by a group of younger boys running through the corridor. She felt Florence's hand on her back and stood steadily on her own two feet again with a helpful push of Florence. 'Let's not make Peter wait any longer,' she said and after sliding the door back open, she walked out of their compartment and the train at last.

The sultry breeze hit Florence's warm cheeks, pleasantly cooling her down. 'Finally,' she said and sniffed in the semi-fresh air. She greatly disliked the dense and suffocating train wagons and would much rather travel by horse, but unfortunately that was something of the olden days.

The swarm of people had come and gone and Lucy could finally see her brother's blonde locks and framed face come into sight. 'Peter!' she beamed and started running towards him, her suitcase rattling behind her over the smooth surface. It didn't have wheels at the bottom—no suitcase in 1945 had wheels—but that didn't stop Lucy from dragging it over the pavement.

'There you are,' Peter said. The air was knocked out of his lungs with how hard Lucy collided with him and he gasped with a chuckle. 'You really need to learn to slow down before you tackle me on the ground one of these days.'

'You really need to learn to stand firmer on your feet then,' Lucy retorted and knelt down to pick up her fallen suitcase.

Florence caught up with Lucy and embraced Peter with one arm, her suitcase still in her other hand. 'Says the girl that almost fell backwards because a few boys ran through the corridor.'

'They'd almost run over my feet,' Lucy defended herself.

Peter shook his head though another small chuckle hiccuped in his throat. 'Let's get going. Ed and Eustace are waiting for us outside,' he said and took over Lucy's suitcase from her. 'Dad paid good money for these, you'll destroy them if you keep running around with it like you just did,' he said when Lucy frowned towards him.

Florence eagerly walked over the pavement, her two hands holding on tight to her suitcase so it wouldn't fall. It was heavier than she remembered it being in the train, every step that she took it weighed her down.

Patiently waiting outside of the station and enjoying the nice spring weather were Edmund Pevensie and Eustace Scrubb. Eustace was half a head taller than his cousin, his dirty blonde hair matched that of Peter, his other cousin. He had distinctive eyebrows which painted his face into a frown if he wasn't smiling.

Edmund looked most like his father out of all his siblings. He'd inherited his dark pearls as eyes and glossy ebony-black hair which always laid messily on top of his head, unless he had a formal gathering of any sort. His mother would then force a bit of wax in his hair and neatly comb it, but Edmund disliked not only the look of it; the feeling of the wax was worst of all.

Florence dropped her suitcase right behind Edmund's back, but to her disappointment he didn't flinch. However, Eustace startled, jumping away on his feet to see Florence hiding her grin behind her hand. 'You weren't supposed to startle,' she said to him, receiving a deadpan glare back.

'Then don't drop your suitcase so close to me,' Eustace replied, clutching onto his heart. 'Nearly had a heart attack.'

Edmund's head slowly turned to look at Eustace, his eyebrows raised. 'You've got to be joking,' he said and shook his head.

'I do not joke about my heart, Edmund,' Eustace said.

'I'm back for two seconds and you're already bickering again,' Florence interrupted.

'No, we're still bickering,' Edmund retorted.

Peter walked in-between the two guys and pushed them both backwards. 'Shut it,' he scoffed. 'Twenty minutes of you two pointlessly arguing on the tube on our way here was enough.' He rubbed his temples, temporarily closing his eyes to stop the slight throb in his head.

Lucy hugged her other brother and her cousin as a greeting before the group started to make their way to King's Cross St Pancras station to catch their tube back to Finchley with Peter leading them as always. The streets buzzed with excitement since the news had hit that the war might be ending soon. There was no certainty, but there also hadn't been any attacks from the Germans. Even Churchill seemed positive about the future.

They passed a stand full of newspapers which caught Florence's eye. She picked one up, the beige paper scrunching between her tense fingers. In bold, black letters read; CASUALTIES KEEP ADDING UP AFTER PINCER IN MUNICH.

'Pete—' Her throat closed itself off, killing her sentence. She felt as though her lungs stopped working while she actually began to hyperventilate. Every sharp breath that she took wasn't enough to satisfy her lungs' needs. Her vision hazed over with a blur and the letter of the newspaper all flowed together into one dark mess that was sucking her in. Her heart pounded painfully in her head, every beat shaking her gaze, which told her that there was someone in front of her.

The person's blue shirt brought out the same colour that his eyes had as they came clearer into view the closer he got to her. Laur, Laur, Laur. The name kept repeating together with a ringing in her ears, but she recognised the muffled voice. It was Peter.

Someone tore her fingers off the newspaper, one by one, until she was no longer clutching onto it. The image of the headline morphed in her mind to the letter she'd received from her brothers only days ago. We're going to Munich. They think this pincer is really going to help our odds in beating the Nazis. Wish us luck!

The words swirled together to make a silent movie, making her watch the merciless shootings and her brothers die at the war front.

'Laur!'

The image faded to the back of her eyes, though she knew it would haunt her dreams until she'd get word back from them. The ringing in her ear started to die down and she could hear more worried utterances besides Peter's distinct voice close to her.

'Breathe, Laur.'

Breathe. She repeated the word over and over again until her body finally started to do what she told it to do. Deep breaths in, long exhales. Her lungs accepted the air and her heart swiftly decelerated.

'It's okay. You're okay. Everything is going to be okay.'

The words were simple and yet they managed to bring Florence at ease. She hadn't even noticed that Peter's arms were wrapped around her, but she gladly rested her head against his chest.

The dark-coppery strands of hair from Lucy peered into sight, followed by her big doe-like eyes. 'Don't lose hope,' she said to Florence and laid a supportive hand on her shoulder while Peter rested his chin on Florence's head. 'There's always hope. Sometimes it just likes to play hide and seek and it may take a while before you find it, but it's there.'

'How can I have hope when my brothers are at the war front and are possibly among the vast amount of casualties?' Florence asked with a restrained sob.

'You believe in them and their promise that they'll come back home, don't you? I've been in the same situation and I believed in my brothers. That was all the hope I needed.'

It took Florence a moment before she could stand on her own two feet again and this time, it was Lucy's hand that was supporting her. 'Thank you,' she said in a hoarse whisper, her throat dry. 'I just can't help but think the worst when I see such things.'

'Our minds playing tricks happens to the best of us,' Edmund chimed in. His eyes seemed sad when he'd spoken the words, but after squeezing them shut for a moment, he managed to bring a smile to his face again.

The air from the unusually hot day carried itself down the stone staircase and into the miles of underground tunnels, leaving a stuffy atmosphere to build up. The muted footsteps died down the closer they got to their tube back home. The previous tube had departed shortly before, but the next one was already slowing down to stop at the platform. The noise of the underground tube was much softer compared to the screeching steel of the steam locomotive, but it still wasn't a pleasant sound to reach one's ears.

One by one, they entered the tube once it had halted completely and squeezed themselves around a pole. Nowhere near them were enough available seats to sit down and they were afraid that if they walked any further, they'd have no luck there either.

And so, the squeaking sound of steel on steel made the tube resume its journey to its destination. . .

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Hi hi,

Here's Theresa with her usual author's note which contains no new or interesting information, but aye, here we are.

Did anyone else notice that seriously no one in this chapter could stand on their own two feet? I didn't mean for it to happen, but I accidentally had a theme of people not being able to stand upright. I mean, story of my life-

I hope you enjoyed it!! We got to meet Florence this chapter, everyone, say hello to Florence. And of course, our Pevensies together with Eustace :))

Thank you for reading! <3

xx Theresa

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